Batsu game
Overview
A batsu game (罰ゲーム, a penalty game) is a punishment for whoever loses a game or bet. It's a staple of Japanese TV variety shows and is also played among friends. The penalty can be anything: doing something embarrassing, eating something gross, being forced to do a particular thing, and so on.
With the spread of social media, penalties have expanded to online acts such as "making an embarrassing post on social media" or "sending a question to someone's question box."
Question boxes as a penalty
"I lost a game, so now I have to send a question to your question box." Questions like this sometimes arrive. For the person answering, it's a question that can easily bring mixed feelings: "So sending a question to my question box counts as a punishment?"
But the "punishment" in a penalty game isn't sending a question to the box itself. It's the embarrassment of "sending an awkward question" or "talking to someone you don't know." It's not the question box that's the penalty; it's the act of working up the courage. Thinking of it that way may make you feel a little better.
Responding to penalty questions
How should you answer a question sent as a penalty? The basic approach is not to worry about the penalty part and just answer normally and have fun with it. Pointing out "you only sent this because you lost a game, right?" is a buzzkill.
If anything, some people discover how fun question boxes are because of a penalty game. "I sent it as a penalty, but the answer was so fun I wanted to send another one." Even if a penalty game was what got them started, it's a good thing if your question box gains fans as a result. Whatever the reason, welcoming the fact that questions come in at all is what makes a big-hearted question box owner.